This is 'BATTLE OF THE BANDS' ('BOTB') where you listen to different recordings of the same song and vote for the one you like best. A new Battle gets posted on the 1st and 15th of each month and six days later, on the 7th and 21st, I place my own vote, tally 'em all up and announce the winner.

.

Friend? Foe? Stranger? No matter, ALL are welcome. So pull up a chair, pour yourself 24 oz. of DOG BITE High Gravity Lager (or the poison of your choice) and turn it up to Eleven!

.

[NOTE: Links to the first year of 'BOTB' (#1 - #24) can be found at the very bottom of this page.]

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

It's the Seventh Game of the World Series... it's also the Eleventh Hour of America's existence. Are we thankful for what we had? Or thankful for the chance to prolong the 7th game of the World Series in the 11th hour?

That was then and this is now. (Following is an article just sent to me by a friend. The one thing I'd dispute is the idea that tyranny at home and anarchy throughout the world haven't yet arrived. HELL-O?!)

I've not verified John's every point, but I know for a fact that at the very least, in the main, he's very correct!

This Thanksgiving, Let’s Say ‘No Thanks’ To The Tyranny Of The American Police State

By John W. Whitehead
November 23, 2015

“Hold on, my friends, to the Constitution and to the Republic for
which it stands. Miracles do not cluster, and what has happened once in
6000 years, may not happen again. Hold on to the Constitution, for if
the American Constitution should fail, there will be anarchy throughout
the world.” —Daniel Webster

Thanksgiving is not what it once was.

Then again, America is not what she once was.

Americans have become so enthralled by the “bread and circuses” of
our age—tables groaning under the weight of an abundance of rich foods,
televisions tuned to sports and entertainments spectacles, stores
competing for Black Friday shoppers, and a general devotion to excess
and revelry—that we have lost sight of the true purpose of Thanksgiving.

Indeed, the following is a lesson in how far we have traveled—and how
low we have fallen—in the more than 200 years since George Washington
issued thefirst Thanksgiving proclamation,
calling upon the nation to give thanks for a government whose purpose
was ensuring the safety and happiness of its people and for a
Constitution designed to safeguard civil and religious liberty.

This Thanksgiving finds us saddled with a government that is a far
cry from Washington’s vision of a government that would be a blessing to
all the people:

governed by wise, just and constitutional laws

faithfully executed and obeyed by its agents

assisting foreign nations with good government, peace, and concord

promoting true religion, virtue and science

and enabling temporal prosperity

Instead, as the following shows, the U.S. government has become a
warring empire, governed by laws that are rash, unjust and
unconstitutional, policed by government agents who are corrupt,
hypocritical and abusive, a menace to its own people, and the antithesis
of everything for which Washington hoped.George Washington didn’t intend Thanksgiving to be a day for offering
up glib platitudes that require no thought, no effort and no sacrifice.
He wanted it to be a day of contemplation, in which we frankly assessed
our shortcomings, acknowledged our wrongdoings, and resolved to be a
better, more peaceable nation in the year to come.

It is in that true spirit of Thanksgiving that I offer the following list of things for which I’m not thankful about the American police state.

Americans are being jailed for profit. Imprisoning
Americans in private prisons and jails run by mega-corporations has
turned into a cash cow for big business, with states agreeing to
maintain a 90% occupancy rate in privately run prisons for at least 20
years. And how do you keep the prisons full? By passing laws aimed at
increasing the prison population, including the imposition of life
sentences on people who commit minor or nonviolent crimes such as
siphoning gasoline. Little surprise, then, that the United States has 5%
of the world’s population, but25% of the world’s prisoners.
The government’s tendency towards militarization and
overcriminalization, in which routine, everyday behaviors become targets
of regulation and prohibition, have resulted in Americans getting
arrested for making and selling unpasteurized goat cheese, cultivating
certain types of orchids, feeding a whale, holding Bible studies in
their homes, andpicking their kids up from school.

The barrier between public and private property has been done away with. Call
it what you will—taxes, penalties, fees, fines, regulations, tariffs,
tickets, permits, surcharges, tolls, asset forfeitures, foreclosures,
etc.—but the only word that truly describes the constant bilking of the
American taxpayer by the government and its corporate partners is theft.
What Americans don’t seem to comprehend is that if the government can
arbitrarily take away your property, without your having much say about
it, you have no true rights and no real property. In this way, the
police state with all of its trappings—from surveillance cameras,
militarized police, SWAT team raids, truancy and zero tolerance
policies, asset forfeiture laws, privatized prisons and red light
cameras to Sting Ray devices, fusion centers, drones, black boxes,
hollow-point bullets, detention centers, speed traps and abundance of
laws criminalizing otherwise legitimate conduct—has become little more
than a front for a high-dollar covert operation aimed at laundering as
much money as possible through government agencies and into the bank
accounts of the corporate oligarchy that rule over us.

The technologically-driven surveillance state has become the fourth branch of government. This
fourth branch—the NSA, CIA, FBI, DHS, etc.—came into being without any
electoral mandate or constitutional referendum, and yet it possesses
superpowers, above and beyond those of any other government agency save
the military. It isall-knowing, all-seeing and all-powerful.
It operates beyond the reach of the president, Congress and the courts,
and it marches in lockstep with the corporate elite who really call the
shots in Washington, DC. This age of technological tyranny has been
made possible by government secrets, government lies, government spies
and their corporate ties. Beware of what you say, what you read, what
you write, where you go, and with whom you communicate, because it will
all be recorded, stored and used against you eventually, at a time and
place of the government’s choosing. Privacy, as we have known it, is
dead. The police state is about to pass off the baton to the
surveillance state.

The schools, modeled after quasi-prisons, are churning out future compliant citizens. Within
America’s public schools can be found almost every aspect of the
American police state that plagues those of us on the “outside”: metal
detectors, surveillance cameras, militarized police, drug-sniffing dogs,
tasers, cyber-surveillance, random searches, senseless arrests, jail
time, the list goes on. Whether it takes the form of draconian zero
tolerance policies, overreaching anti-bullying statutes, police officers
charged with tasering and arresting so-called unruly children,
standardized testing with its emphasis on rote answers, political
correctness, or the extensive surveillance systems cropping up in
schools all over the country, young people in America are first in line
to be indoctrinated into compliant citizens of the new American police
state.

The courts have become courts of order in an age of government-sanctioned tyranny. With
every ruling handed down by the courts, it becomes more apparent that
we live in an age of hollow justice, with government courts, largely
lacking in vision and scope, rendering narrow rulings that have nothing
to do with true justice. This is true at all levels of the judiciary,
but especially so in the highest court of the land, the U.S. Supreme
Court, which is seemingly more concerned with establishing order and
protecting government agents than with upholding the rights enshrined in
the Constitution. Given the turbulence of our age, with its police
overreach, military training drills on American soil, domestic
surveillance, SWAT team raids, asset forfeiture, wrongful convictions,
and corporate corruption, the need for a guardian of the people’s rights
has never been greater. Yet when presented with an opportunity to weigh
in on these issues, what does our current Supreme Court usually do? It
ducks. Prevaricates. Remains silent. Speaks to the narrowest possible
concern. More often than not, it gives the government and its corporate
sponsors the benefit of the doubt. Rarely do the concerns of the
populace prevail.

As I point out in my bookBattlefield America: The War on the American People,
these are abuses that no American should tolerate from its government,
and yet not only do we tolerate them, but we help to advance them by
supporting meaningless elections, allowing ourselves to be divided by
partisan politics, and failing to hold the government accountable to
abiding by the rule of law, the U.S. Constitution.

Mark my words: if we do not push back against the menace of the
police state now, if we fail to hold onto the Constitution and our
constitutional republic, and if we allow the government to remain the
greatest threat to our freedoms, then future Thanksgivings will find us
paying the price with tyranny at home and anarchy throughout the world.

Sez D-FensDogG: If the American troops don't support the Constitution, don't support the troops! If the American Police don't support Truth, Justice, and the American Way, don't support the police.Just say "NO!" to blind, jingoistic pseudo-American patriotism!Now, go have a Happy Thanksgiving. But let us give thanks (to You-Know-Who) for the things we should truly be thankful for.~ Stephen T. McCarthy

As I mentioned previously, the November Battle Of The Bands competitions for which FarAwayEyes and I collaborated, were conceived as a kind of major sporting event.

The song was 'THELOOKOFLOVE'. Each of us decided we would choose two competitors, and the winners of our November 1st Battles would battle it out for the World Series championship on November 15th.

I insisted that I get to use the Chris Botti version (I had been planning to use that since about the time the BOTB idea was first conceived) but FAE was free to use anyone else she wanted. I had Botti against a nice live version by Diana Krall. And on November 1st, FAE put the big hit version bySérgio Mendes & Brasil '66against Nina Simone.

FarAwayEyes and I had many discussions about this Playoff and World Series scenario leading up to the November Battles and we both predicted that Brasil '66 and Botti would win their respective Battles and meet for the championship on 11/15, and that's indeed what hoppened. We were also in agreement that Sergio & Company would probably beat Botti in the championship round.

Now, I'll confess that I was not overly pleased with FAE's decision to use the hit version by Sérgio Mendes & Brasil '66 because I felt it would run away with the voting, resulting in shutouts or blowouts at the very least. And that proved true when Brasil '66 clobbered Nina Simone in the playoffs.

But when the "World Series" began on November 15th between Sérgio Mendes & Brasil '66and the underdog, Chris Botti, something totally unpredictable occurred: Botti's cover version - the sound of some seriously smoldering sexuality - immediately began mopping up the baseball diamond with Sergio & Company. HOKEY-SMOKE! I never would have foreseen that!

After the first 16 votes were recorded, Chris Botti had an 8-VOTELEAD and this contest (which FAE and I both thought Sergio & Brasil '66 would win) was OVER, baby,OVER! Nobody comes back from 8 votes down in a BOTB contest!

"Life imitates art as a badly hobbled Kirk Gibson uses his lone at-bat of the 1988 World Series to become a hero for the ages against a heavily favored Oakland A's squad". Fictional version: 'The Natural' starring Robert Redford.

But... On October 15, 1988, my brother Nappy and I were at Dodger Stadium for the the first game of the '88 World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Oakland Athletics, and we witnessed with our own eyes the most amazing comeback in sports history.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0smIeeH55HA.In watching the votes roll in at the end of this "World Series" BOTB contest, I began to feel like it was October 15th, 1988 at Dodger Stadium all over again! I couldn't believe what I was seeing, but suddenly vote after vote began piling up for SERGIO MENDES & BRASIL '66.

Was this really happening? Could they really come back from 8 votes down to tie or win this championship over the song 'THE LOOK OF LOVE'?

FarAwayEyes and I were watching the voting very intently for the last few days and holding our breaths.We're both crazy about both versions of this song - Sergio's and Botti's - but we both lean very slightly toward S.M. & Brasil '66. (I love it for the absolute joy of it, the great musicianship and the harmonizing of the group vocals. I adore group harmonizing - The Beach Boys, The 5th Dimension, Spanky & Our Gang, The Mamas & The Papas, Sergio and Brasil '66 - I love, Love, LOVE it!)

With a jaw-dropping, historic BOTB comeback, Sergio & Brasil '66 received 10 of the final 11 votes (including FAE's and mine) and here's how the scoreboard looked at the end of the World Series:

Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 = 14 VotesChris Botti = 13 Votes

Hoo-Wee! My own vote got to determine the winner. I LOVE it when that happens!

This BOTB installment was historic to me for two reasons: Aside from the amazing comeback that Sergio & Brasil '66 managed to pull off, this Battle received 27 votes - the most any of my BOTB contests have ever had. So... MAJOR LEAGUE THANKS TO EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU WHO VOTED! Y'all made this perhaps the most enjoyable Battle Of The Bands installment I've ever put together!

I hope you all have a fantabulous Thanksgiving holiday, and I hope to see y'all back here again for my December 1st BOTB contest.

~ Stephen T. McCarthy

POSTSCRIPT: IMO, the Chris Botti album 'AThousandKissesDeep' (which includes his cover of 'TheLookOfLove') is probably the most romantically sexy collection of songs on one disc. It saddens me that the album didn't come out until 2003, so I never got a chance to make-out with some young lovely while it played. But maybe you can live my dream for me! You'll find the entire album by clicking the link below:

But first, an update on the DIXIE (DCRelief) watch: I spoke on the phone with Dixie about a week ago and she sounded really good to me. I know she's still having some health issues, but her spirits and her energy sounded up. And I'm happy to announce that she's back BOTBing with us again on this November 15th. So, please make sure you visit her Battle and welcome her back HERE.

EUGENE MARTONE VS. JACK BUTLER

You'll recall that FarAwayEyes and I teamed up on November 1st to use the song 'THELOOKOFLOVE'. We had four different performers Battling it out over that same great song.

My Battle featured a live version of the song by DIANA KRALL (which I thought was pretty good and way better'n her studio recording of it) against the CHRIS BOTTI recording of it from his great album 'A Thousand Kisses Deep'. This Battle wascloser, but Chris Botti won convincingly, 13 to 8.

GOODNIKS VS. NO-GOODNIKS

.Well, it just so happens that from the beginning, I conceived of this Battle over the song 'THE LOOK OF LOVE' as a kind of sporting event, and the first round was like the playoffs - Brasil '66 and Nina Simone playing for the American League pennant, and Diana Krall and Chris Botti playing for the National League pennant.

Well, guess what happens now!The two winning teams meet in the World Series for the Championship. That's what happens now. And YOU get to help decide the champion. Are you ready? Set? GO!....

.Alright
now, “you know the gig”... I welcome you (whoever you are) to vote for your favorite of these songs in the comment section
below. And feel free to tell us WHY
you chose one song over the other.

After
voting here, I
suggest - actually I insist - you pop over to the blogs of the other
'BATTLE OF THE BANDS' participants to see which songs they have
chosen and vote there also.
(If their ‘BOTB’ blog bits aren’t posted yet, pour yourself two
shots of ‘Grand Marnier’ over ice – do it twice
– and then return to their blogs to vice
your voice
...vote
your vice
...voice your vote.)

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

This is Part 7 in the new and improved 'TheSoundtrackOfMyLife' (or, 'TSOML').

When I put together my original 'Soundtrack Of My Life' for my old 'STUFFS' blog in 2010, it never even occurred to me to use today's song. But then again, that "soundtrack" was tossed together quickly and all in one post. This time I've had the ability to contemplate which songs to include over a much longer period of time.Today's song is really kind of a no-brainer (and no-brainer me finally figured that out).

As most of you probably know, the television show M*A*S*H played a pretty big part in my life from 1978 until its final episode in 1983 (Season 7 through Season 11). Although I do not think it so, I suppose many people would think it the most noteworthy part of my life. However, Ididn't really appreciate the situation I was in until years after it had concluded. I had bigger dreams, and I was sure at the time that M*A*S*H would ultimately be nuttin' more than a footnote in my life. The best-laid plans o' dogGs and men..., eh?

At any rate, I worked on the show continuously during its last five seasons, and I could probably spot myself in almost every episode during those years. If you were a huge MASH fan, then I have been in your home. Ha!

In a few episodes I was impossible not to see (I would say something, and/or there was a big close-up of my face), in other episodes you'd miss me if you didn't know where to look (I'm just tossing a football in the background in front of "The Swamp").

How could I have neglected to use this in my first 'Soundtrack' blog bit? In a way, this instrumental actually WAS my life for 5 years:

BONUS TRACKS:I thought this was a cool video that the gentleman put together after visiting and filming at Malibu Creek State Park, where we shot most of the exterior scenes for MASH. This video will show you what the exterior set looks like today.I never really liked it when we shot in Malibu. Why not? Because that was about a 40-minute drive from my house. When we shot interiors on Stage 9 at 20th Century Fox Studio, it was just a 10-12 minute drive from home for me.Two vivid memories I have of being at the outdoor set in Malibu: 1) One morning I was getting into costume inside the Post-Op (Hospital tent) where the Wardrobe Dept. was also located, when I picked up a newspaper and saw that John Lennon had been shot and killed. 2) It was also in the Post-Op tent where I was drawing in my sketchbook between shots one day that Gary Burghoff noticed my art and he struck up a conversation with me. He was a very, very cool guy and I got to know him and like him better'n any of the other primary actors on the show.

This is an interesting video from "behind the curtain"when we were filming the very final MASH scene ever. When the director yelled "Cut!", it was the end of the popular TV show MASH.

Look closely and quickly and you will see me. At 3:37, there are three women on the right side - a blonde woman at the forefront - the tallest person there in that line is a dude-guy, and that dude-guy is me. Also, at 7:06, when Father Mulcahy is yakking, you can see a sliver o' me in the background, between his back and the camera lens.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSDYNfmm-ew

.But first off, I need to inform you that our friend Dixie ("Polka") of the blog DCRELIEF is feeling poorly and she told me that she won't be able to participate in 'BOTB' this round. Perhaps not on 11/15 either.

If you're a believer, please say a prayer for Dixie's quick and complete recovery. And let's all hope she's at least able to rejoin us BOTBers in time for the December celebrations and the festive BOTB installments that always occur. I thank you.

.

GOODNIKS VS. NO-GOODNIKS

.Alright, now let's get on it, FORREAL...

Wackypedia sez:

"TheLookofLove"is a popular song composed by Burt Bacharach and Hal David and sung by English pop singer Dusty Springfield, which appeared in the 1967 spoof James Bond film Casino Royale.In 2008, the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. It also received a Best Song nomination in the 1968 Academy Awards. [...]

Sérgio Mendes' hit rendition on the Sérgio Mendes &Brasil '66albumLook Aroundreached #4 on the pop charts after their performance in the Academy Awards telecast in March, 1968..

GODZILLA VS. KING KONG

.First up is Nina Simone. It was Nina who won the very first BOTB contest, which was posted by my friend FarAwayEyes (FAE) on July 10, 2013.In that first BOTB, Nina Simone clobbered Matthew Bellamy and his band Muse (8-2). Let's see how Nina does against her second White boy. This time it's trumpeter Chris Botti.

Normally, I don't like to match a live performance against a studio recording, but in this case, I thought this live performance by "Ms." Krall was 1,001 times better'n her studio recording of this song.

.Alright
now, “you know the gig”... I welcome you (whoever you are) to vote for your favorite of these songs in the comment section
below. And feel free to tell us WHY
you chose one song over the other..After
voting here, I
suggest - actually I insist - you pop over to the blogs of the other
'BATTLE OF THE BANDS' participants to see which songs they have
chosen and vote there also.
(If their ‘BOTB’ blog bits aren’t posted yet, pour yourself two
shots of ‘Grand Marnier’ over ice – do it twice
– and then return to their blogs to vice
your voice
...vote
your vice
...voice your vote.) .Voice
Your Vote
@ ‘FARAWAYSERIES’
by clicking HERE.@
‘TOSSINGITOUT’
by clicking HERE.@
‘YOURDAILYDOSE’
by clicking HERE.@
'BOOKLOVER'
by clicking HERE.@
'MIKE'SRAMBLINGS'
by clicking HERE.@
'CURIOUSASACATHY'
by clicking HERE.@
'THESOUNDOFONEHANDTYPING'
by clicking HERE.@ 'DCRELIEF - BATTLEOFTHEBANDS' by clicking HERE.@ 'THEDOGLADY'SDEN' by clicking HERE.@ 'CHERDOONTHEFLIPSIDE' by clicking HERE. @ 'ANGELSBARK' by clicking HERE.@ 'JINGLEJANGLEJUNGLE' by clicking HERE.@ 'WOMEN: WESHALLOVERCOME' by clicking HERE.@ 'J.A.SCOTT' by clicking HERE.@ 'NOVELBREWS' by clicking HERE. @ 'HOLLI'SHOOTSANDHOLLERS' by clicking HERE.@ 'QUIETLAUGHTER' by clicking HERE. .As
I've done in the past, I will continue to return to my 'BOTB' blog
bits on the 7th and 21st of each month to post my own votes and
announce the winners in the comment sections..~
Stephen T. McCarthy.

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About Me

STEPHEN = The first person known to have been martyred because of their personal testimony of Jesus Christ (Acts 6-7). My foremost allegiance is to my Holy King, Jesus, who has been given all authority in Heaven and on Earth, and to His God who bestowed it upon Him (Matt. 28:18; John 20:17). ----- T. = Thoreau, as in Henry David Thoreau, the writer and staunch abolitionist who, in 1849, penned the classic essay 'Civil Disobedience' wherein he wrote: "I cannot for an instant recognize that political organization as my government which is the slave's government also." I abhor slavery and injustice in all of their forms! ----- McCARTHY = The Wisconsin Senator, Joseph McCarthy, one of America's greatest heroes, and the most unjustly vilified individual in our country's history! His unappreciated, rebuffed efforts to expose Communist infiltration of our government transformed this embattled man's name into a pejorative catchword: McCarthyism. If you still believe that Joseph McCarthy was the most evil American of the Twentieth Century, educate yourself today. Go to... http://www.knology.net/~bilrum/mccarthy.htm ...and see how you've been misled.